March 29, 2007
Hip-Hop Mix
This is a little half-hour tape I made using some of the the vinyl I've been lugging around since I lived in the firehouse on the corner of Amherst and East Street in Black Rock, my neighborhood, on Buffalo's Northwest Side. Every song means something to me - a lot, actually, and more than I've figured out how to write down yet. These tracks may sound familiar to those of you who remember me djing for house parties and afternoon sessions back then.
Beg No Friends - Strickly Roots feat. Fat Joe & Grand Puba (DJ Chill Will F.T.E. Frut Flava Mix)
Weird choice to start the tape off because I never heard this until a couple years back when I was living in Brooklyn; no Black Rock ties here. Well, none except for the fact that I used to buy Chill Will (From the Eastsiiiiiiiiiiiide) mix tapes from New Style Records on Bailey back when I was in high school. So to hear this 1993 loop sound really (infinitely?) fuckin heavy in 2007 makes me happy as hell. Listen to the way Fat Joe says "WHAT THE FUCK" when he comes in the verse - that's what kicking in doors lyrically really sounds like.
No Equal - The Beatnuts
Roc Raida killed this song on this one DMC tape P had in high school. Probably watched it five hundred times. When I first started at school in 1999, I was doin a little bit of writing and interning and I got my first big interview with Al-Tariq aka Fashion. After a summer of listening to Al-Tariq, Black Attack and Problemz on Tony Touch tapes, I found myself sitting in Al-Tariq's living room talking to him about what went wrong with the Beatnuts. He lived in Stuy-Town and was a real nice dude. I tried to stay professional but for real I was pretty fanned out. Story never got published.
Sound Bwoy Burriel (Rmx) - Smif n Wessun
Nothing reminds me of being 17 like listening to Dah Shinin. I had it on tape and it never left my box. But the real reason this song is on here is because on the first mix tape I ever bought, DJ Matty (Matt Quinn) from Buffalo used it and I was hooked. I'll never forget that tape: he was selling it out of a skate store and it had a handmade label done with a Sharpie. That tape would be hi-speed-dubbed many times during grade 8 on. It expanded my taste immeasurably: he started off with Proteck Ya Neck over some R&B beat I could never place; it was the first blend I had ever heard and will always remain one of the best.
Gots Like Come on Thru - Buddha Monk & The Brooklyn Zu
First heard this on Buffalo State College radio, WBNY 91.3 - DJ Corey and Scott Downs! - on the Sunday night hip-hop show. (More on an early version of the show here.) I would record damn near every show on a tape - they would say "PRESS RECORD NOW" during the broadcast - and one night they played this weird Wu song, sounded like ODB but it wasn't. That little guitar line got me real good so when I saw this record with its weird yellow label at New Style records, I snapped it up. It became a "messin with doubles" standard and had all kinds of lines drawn on it by the time I packed up my records, left Black Rock and went to college.
Labels - GZA
I remember the summer this album came out it took over. Everyone listened to it. One day there was a Toy Machine demo on Elmwood at what used to be the old skate park, right next to the Wilson Farms; Ed Templeton and that one girl and the whole team did wild tricks in the parking lot. It was about 85 degrees - I think July - and some older kid played Liquid Swords real loud out of his car.
Wu-Wear: The Garment Renaissance - RZA feat. Cappadonna, Method Man
As a contrast, this is a winter song for me. Listening to it, I can still feel the dampness of my socks from getting out of school and walking through the February Black Rock curb snow... I'm upstairs sitting on my bed, just got home and turned on "The Box" while I put my backpack down and once again this song is on my tv and that doorbell is back in my brain. People keep requestin it so the Box keeps playin the video and it feels like Method Man, the RZA and Cappadonna have the entire world figured out. The entire fucking world! And "High School High" is coming out in in theaters in a couple weeks. Believe it or not I remember people dancing to this at parties.
Soul in the Hole - Wu All-Stars feat. Dreddy Kruger, Killa Sin, Shyheim, Timbo King
The title track soundtrack jam for a movie I never saw. File this with the Buddha Monk song for weird wu-tang songs I heard on DJ Corey's show, found, bought, then played all the goddamn time.
Bounce to the Ounce - Originoo Gunn Clappaz
This is from the album after "The Storm" - I forget the name of it - and it sounded different. I don't think the Beatminerz did the beats. Anyways I always dug this song cause Starang says a bunch of ridiculous shit. Plus I went to Fat Beats once during my first semester in New York just to stop in (Catch, I see you!) and OGC was doing a signing so I copped the vinyl and got promo photos signed. As a young white Buffalo dude in New York, I remember being so genuinely geeked about being able to walk up in a store and see a rap act that me and my boys liked just sitting there.
Recognize - The Lox
Listening to this, I can smell the Vanillaroma in Nash's black 1989 Honda Accord. I love the Lox.
Play Dis (Rmx) - Saukrates feat. Common
One more all time hall of fame piece of vinyl I copped from New Style. Because Saukrates was from Toronto, like Choclair and Kardinal, that made him local in my book. I could skip school and drive up to Toronto and go to Play de Record on Yonge Street and try to get home before 4 PM, a plan that backfired disastrously one time. So Toronto, while not home, felt closer than, say, mystical Brooklyn. Plus I remember the wild relief I felt when I found other people liked this song, too; I remember going to Baby Steps, getting in the door with my fake id, buying Molsons and little tequila shots, all while hearing Lo-Pro and Kream play this (play dis)... I was 18 and drunk and it was summer and I remember thinkin that life was so fuckin exciting. And it was, and it is, and it was.
Posted by caps at March 29, 2007 06:49 PM